Romans 2:12-14

2:12 For all who have sinned apart from the law ¹  will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 2:13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous. ²  2:14 For whenever the Gentiles, ³  who do not have the law, do by nature ⁴  the things required by the law, ⁵  these who do not have the law are a law to themselves.

Romans 2:17-18

The Condemnation of the Jew

2:17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law ⁶  and boast of your relationship to God ⁷  2:18 and know his will ⁸  and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law, ⁹ 

Romans 2:20

2:20 an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth –

Romans 2:23

2:23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law!

Romans 2:25-27

2:25 For circumcision ¹⁰  has its value if you practice the law, but ¹¹  if you break the law, ¹²  your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 2:26 Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys ¹³  the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 2:27 And will not the physically uncircumcised man ¹⁴  who keeps the law judge you who, despite ¹⁵  the written code ¹⁶  and circumcision, transgress the law?

[2:12]  ¹ sn This is the first occurrence of law (nomos) in Romans. Exactly what Paul means by the term has been the subject of much scholarly debate. According to J. A. Fitzmyer (Romans [AB], 131-35; 305-6) there are at least four different senses: (1) figurative, as a “principle”; (2) generic, meaning “a law”; (3) as a reference to the OT or some part of the OT; and (4) as a reference to the Mosaic law. This last usage constitutes the majority of Paul’s references to “law” in Romans.

[2:13]  ² tn The Greek sentence expresses this contrast more succinctly than is possible in English. Grk “For not the hearers of the law are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be declared righteous.”

[2:14]  ³ sn Gentile is a NT term for a non-Jew.

[2:14]  ⁴ tn Some (e.g. C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans [ICC], 1:135-37) take the phrase φύσει (fusei, “by nature”) to go with the preceding “do not have the law,” thus: “the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature,” that is, by virtue of not being born Jewish.

[2:14]  ⁵ tn Grk “do by nature the things of the law.”

[2:17]  ⁴ sn The law refers to the Mosaic law, described mainly in the OT books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

[2:17]  ⁵ tn Grk “boast in God.” This may be an allusion to Jer 9:24.

[2:18]  ⁵ tn Grk “the will.”

[2:18]  ⁶ tn Grk “because of being instructed out of the law.”

[2:25]  ⁶ sn Circumcision refers to male circumcision as prescribed in the OT, which was given as a covenant to Abraham in Gen 17:10-14. Its importance for Judaism can hardly be overstated: According to J. D. G. Dunn (Romans [WBC], 1:120) it was the “single clearest distinguishing feature of the covenant people.” J. Marcus has suggested that the terms used for circumcision (περιτομή, peritomh) and uncircumcision (ἀκροβυστία, akrobustia) were probably derogatory slogans used by Jews and Gentiles to describe their opponents (“The Circumcision and the Uncircumcision in Rome,” NTS 35 [1989]: 77-80).

[2:25]  ⁷ tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.

[2:25]  ⁸ tn Grk “if you should be a transgressor of the law.”

[2:26]  ⁷ tn The Greek word φυλάσσω (fulassw, traditionally translated “keep”) in this context connotes preservation of and devotion to an object as well as obedience.

[2:27]  ⁸ tn Grk “the uncircumcision by nature.” The word “man” is supplied here to make clear that male circumcision (or uncircumcision) is in view.

[2:27]  ⁹ tn Grk “through,” but here the preposition seems to mean “(along) with,” “though provided with,” as BDAG 224 s.v. διά A.3.c indicates.

[2:27]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “letter.”